Bookglee Moment of the Year

I got it, I got it, I got it!!!

I got paid for a recent reading in MPH book vouchers -- and used the entire sum (with change of 10sen, that is) to get it yesterday!!!

I dare you to find another person in this country who paid for it before me (reviewers therefore ineligible). :D

Howtotellagreatstory.com Review

Ochre As The Earth reviewed at howtotellagreatstory.com.

NST Review

There's a write-up on Ochre As The Earth in today's New Straits Times (Sunday Times), although the name of the show isn't even mentioned once in it. Can't find the online link (can you?). It's not a bad review at all, but I find it quite odd that the reviewer told me personally that the poem she quotes the first line from was her own favourite from my work, but in the article writes about it in a rather unkind manner. I can't illustrate without example. See if I can find the article online later.

In Zero Degrees Magazine, this June

(click to enlarge, of course)

Publishing A First Book of Poetry

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the publishing of my first full-length collection of late. Not in that fantasy scenario way, but in the serious, nuts and bolts way. And it’s putting a bit of a deterrent on the completion of the book itself, which is pretty much finished. For real. Give or take a few loose knots, a handful of pages to fill or poems to tweak. I know, I know; as Jerome paraphrases Valéry, “Poems are never finished. You just stop writing them”. I’ve never been that big a believer in that idea, anyway. And a book is not a blog template.

But I have this fear of finishing Witchcraft, of reaching the point when I know it’s completely done, not ‘a movement of wind’ from being done. Because after that comes, if you’ll let me speculate, a year of submissions and rejections, astronomical postage costs that could add up to enough to self-publish, and an eventual, possibly mediocre-level, acceptance by which time my standards and my nerves would have frayed so much that I never want to look at the poems again. Followed by up to two years of waiting to see it in print.

But if you know me, you know I’m very proactive when I set my mind to it. I am determined to have this book in print before I turn 23, which is 13 months away. And I’ll confess, even that is my pessimistic deadline. Six months is what I’m really giving the project. Okay, eight.

So I’ve been researching my options. What I learnt from Iyari is that while people will fawn over and pay extra for that “made with love” stamp, handmade books are a bitch. I don’t intend to do another run of handmade books, even chapbooks. It takes too long, and it feels rewarding for only about the first dozen or so. It’s downhill from there. I still owe people copies. And I actually showed up to my own launch with the materials for five copies, utterly shocked both by the fact that fifty people were already there before I even arrived and that I had to let someone else make those five copies for me.

Control freak. Not obvious yet?

But another lesson I learnt from self-publishing that chapbook is that the legwork for that kind of thing is considerable. Going the self-publishing route again will mean heading to a printer after having completed and typeset the manuscript, found cover art (and gotten through copyright issues, if necessary) and designed the cover, armed with a complete idea of what the book in its finality ought to look like. Which all suits me just fine. What doesn’t – and this is where the Iyari lesson kicks in – is what comes after. My work as a writer ends and my work as the businesswoman/publicity hound kicks in, and that’s where things stop suiting me at all. I am dedicated to doing the things I do, and I have found myself solo too many times. But the tasks at hand are not ones I want to devote all my time to.

Based on the experiences of friends who are writers, I understand that self-publishing a full-length book, whatever the genre, is a double-pronged sword. On the one hand, the complete sovereignty that I relish is a guarantee. On the other, it is when it comes to distribution that the troubles kick in. I can put together something that looks wonderful, is perfectly bound, I know I can find sponsors for the printing costs, and I can even have the whole thing ready in a matter of weeks but at the end of the day, it’s getting the book out there that is the problem.

These are some of what I’m mulling over at the moment:

· Is it worth it to go with a print-on-demand publisher like Lulu? Or is it better to just go to a printer and get what I need done, in bulk? One advantage of the former is that no trees die for the sake of me having enough stacks of books to make makeshift furniture from. One advantage of the latter is impulse, courtesy and curiosity buys: i.e. people I meet at readings or in my personal time may buy copies just because I have them on me.

· Just how much trust can I invest in the power of the Internet when I simply do not have a budget for publicity? And even if I did, a website and even an e-tour can only go so far, right?

· The majority of my sales, if I go the self-publishing route, will be off my website. But there is physical labour involved, namely posting. Running a one-woman office and coordinating an e-tour, managing my own publicity, sending out books, trying to secure sponsorships and invitations for actual (as opposed to virtual) touring, while simultaneously living, working and pursuing my other projects will require some serious steroids.

· If I decide to self-publish, what sort of infrastructure am I going to need to ensure that my work won’t languish in the great dark pit of self-published failures? Failures not necessarily because of poor quality of work, but because of the inability to successfully promote and sell the books. It’s important to bear in mind that when working with a press, the book’s needs are taken care of by people whose job it is to ensure x and y and z get done on behalf of its writer. When self-publishing, all of those jobs come to roost atop the head of an individual who already has to deal with day-to-day life as an artist and a person.

· What I really want is to work with a small press. I would much rather sacrifice prestige for the satisfaction of seeing Witchcraft in print sooner, and hopefully greater involvement in the publishing process.

· The problem with most publishers, whatever their size, is that they require hard copy manuscripts. Let’s establish right here that if I am to publish to my own satisfaction, looking outside Malaysia is a given. (Singapore has a good poetry-centric publisher, but no point putting all my eggs in one basket). Let’s say we’re looking at a 70-page manuscript. Sent out to fifteen publishers. Plus, say, five publishing contests. Please do the math on the postage yourself. I started this blog because I was too broke to set up a website. I would hate to accept sponsorship to submit to publishers, let alone the reading fee on top of the postage for publishing contests. That kind of money (think US dollars) could be used to self-publish, thereby rendering null several months or even a year or more of the process.

· On that very important note, do you know of presses willing to see pdfs or Word attachments of the completed manuscript?

· Based on the experience of a friend who locally self-published a bestselling novel, I know that getting my book on Amazon.com will not be possible (except via their secondhand sellers). Some rules about publishing in the US first, etc. Relatedly, and this is a long shot anyway, the published book will be ineligible for many prizes.

My options, in short are: self-publish, then put all other aspects of my life on hold while publicizing and getting my book to buyers, or, spend up to a year or more of time finding a publisher, in the process running myself into debt, but considerably less worry about distribution and publicity once the book is out.

Anyone with advice or suggestions?

Lastly, a word on why publishing this collection is so important to me. As nice as the idea of not being materialistic is, writing is my main career. I depend on it, on purely practical terms, much more than I do on my other loves (I have never tried to sell a painting, for example). The last thing I think of myself as is a starving artist – a girl needs to eat! Do I expect to make truck-loads of cash from this book? No. But if greeted with a fairly decent reception, there will be a ripple effect in other aspects of my career (keeping things materialistically-speaking) – more name-recognition will result both in the chance to write more of, and get paid more for, the things I’m really interested in as a journalist; more credibility as a writer in general will result in more writing-related opportunities, and so on. Do I expect massive success? No. But in the democracy of the Internet’s new world order, anything is feasible. And a decent reception alone could radically change my life.

Utan Kayu

I'm happy to share some good news. I have been invited to the 2007 Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale in Indonesia in August. The Festival will be held at various locations in Jakarta, Yogjakarta and (most fantastically, for me!) in Candi Borobudur!

Invited participants
Indonesia:
1. Indonesia – Abdul Hadi W.M.
2. Indonesia – Agus Noor
3. Indonesia – Amarzan Ismail Hamid
4. Indonesia – Dewi Lestari
5. Indonesia – F. Rahardi
6. Indonesia – Gus TF Sakai
7. Indonesia – Intan Paramaditha
8. Indonesia – Joni Ariadinata
9. Indonesia – Laksmi Pamuntjak
10. Indonesia – Oka Rusmini
11. Indonesia – Remy Sylado *
12. Indonesia – Triyanto Triwikromo
13. Indonesia – Ugoran Prasad
14. Indonesia – Violetta Simatupang
15. Indonesia – Abidah El Khalieqy
16. Indonesia – Acep Zamzam Noor
17. Indonesia – Avi Basuki
18. Indonesia – Ayu Utami
19. Indonesia – Beni Setia
20. Indonesia – Darmanto Jatman
21. Indonesia – Dorothea Rosa Herliany
22. Indonesia – ES Wibowo
23. Indonesia – Hamsad Rangkuti
24. Indonesia – Iman Budhi Santosa
25. Indonesia – Joko Pinurbo

* yet to be confirmed


International:
1. Australia – Sam Wagan Watson
2. Australia – Sean M Whelan
3. Bolivia/USA – Edmundo Paz Soldán
4. Curaçao – Izaline Calister
5. Holland – Chris Keulemans
6. India – Mamang Dai
7. India / Sri Lanka – Sharanya Manivannan
8. Italy – Idanna Pucci
9. Lebanon – Hassan Daoud
10. Malaysia – Jerome Kugan
11. Pakistan – Feryal Ali-Gauhar
12. Palestine – Ghassan Zaqtan
13. Singapore – Cyril Wong
14. South Africa – Rustum Kozain
15. St. Martin (Netherland Antilles) – Drisana Deborah Jack
16. Suriname – Karin Amatmoekrim
17. Taiwan – Lan Po-chou
18. Taiwan – Yu-hsiang Hao
19. Turkey – Ozen Yula
20. USA – Kimberley Blaeser
21. USA – Terence Ward
22. Vietnam / USA – Mong-Lan

I will continue to update you on this as I find out more. Very excited -- the company of friends (Jerome, Laksmi, Cyril) and the chance to get to know the many amazing writers listed above. Am particularly looking forward to meeting Mamang Dai, fellow Indian and marvellous poet, and to meeting Mong-Lan again. OhmyGod I hope this post doesn't jinx things!

Harassment at Payless Books, Amcorp Mall

This letter has been sent to Payless Books.

--

To whom it may concern,

Re: Harassment at Payless Books, Amcorp Mall

With regards to the above, I regret to inform you that I am extremely unsettled by an unpleasant experience I had yesterday afternoon (June 19th 2007) at your branch in Amcorp Mall. The treatment that I, a loyal customer of a number of years now, received at the hands of your staff has left me with no choice but to lodge this formal complaint.

At around 4pm, I entered the shop. A few days prior to this visit, I had left some books at the counter, along with my name and number, which I collected prior to beginning to browse.

Your employee – whose name I later found out was Shawn – proceeded to make unsolicited conversation with me for several minutes, asking personal questions as well as discussing what he said was unfair actions by other Payless branches. When I was able to politely get away, I did so, and began to browse. After looking through the books I had set aside I chose not to purchase them and left them back on the shelf where I found them.

I returned the plastic bag when I neared the counter, which I had been holding with me while I continued to peruse the rest of the store. I had not finished browsing at this point. Immediately, your employee demanded that he search through my bag. I calmly set down my bag for his inspection. He checked another book I had in the bag to confirm that it was not the property of Payless. Needless to say, he found no evidence of shoplifting. As soon as he had finished, I questioned his behaviour.

These are some of the statements that your employee made to me when I questioned his behaviour: “I have the right to check your bags”, “You are supposed to return the books to me”, and, “It is a bit weird. You always come here, but you don’t always buy anything.” I should note that your employee raised his voice to me several times. Although he claimed that he was “just doing [his] job”, the entire incident was conducted very unprofessionally.

Shoplifters do not leave their details with the cashier. They do not wander around the store after committing the crime. They do not return as regular customers for almost five years running. Similarly, readers do far more browsing than buying. They do not buy every book they take out of the shelf. There is no implicit guarantee that books set aside will be bought. When browsing in a bookstore, most customers will put back on the shelves books they have looked at but which they are not purchasing. Your employees do not have the right to search customers’ private belongings. Furthermore, as someone who has bought perhaps 200-300 books from your branches over the years, there was even a possibility that a book I carried with me might have had your sticker. While this was not the case this time, it would not have been evidence of theft. Only seeing a customer try to smuggle unpaid items is evidence of theft. Payless Books, Amcorp Mall, is a very small space, with mirrors at the back. A conscientious employee would be able to watch customers easily, and intervene once (and only if) a crime is witnessed.

That you have in your employment a person who is supposed to represent you yet does not know these basic facts is a huge insult to your company.

Given the circumstances, it is clear to me that what occurred was a deliberate act of personal harassment. There are no excuses for Shawn’s behaviour. While I understand that shoplifting is a concern for any retail establishment, there are standard measures to prevent it, which do not inconvenience customers or disrespect them. By no standards whatsoever was your employee’s harassment acceptable.

Shortly after leaving the store, I received an SMS from your employee, which I quote verbatim here: “Hai, Sharanya i am really sorry about the incident … Shawn”, from this number, 016-xxxxxxx. This was yet another completely inappropriate gesture. I had never given your employee my phone number for personal use. He had taken it from the details I had left on my prior visit. Once again, he overstepped the bounds and invaded my privacy. I did not reply to his SMS.

I have always regarded Payless Books as a respectable and customer-friendly chain of bookstores, but this experience has tainted my perspective. I am disgusted by your employee’s behaviour, as a result of which neither I nor many of the friends I have alerted about this harassment will visit your Amcorp Mall branch again.

I hope you shall see fit to take appropriate action to resolve this matter and restore your good reputation.


Yours sincerely,
Sharanya Manivannan

Kumpi (The Work of the Oracle)

Last night someone told me that in the Balinese culture, the forms of address between great-grandparent and great-grandchild are the same word. Kumpi. Because every four generations, we become equal.

The work of the oracle is through body and voice. The work of the oracle is to give voice to the bodies upon which are inscribed our fates. The work of the oracle is to go beyond body-memory, to transcend into ancestral memory. To excavate. To restore. The work of the oracle is as much past as it is future.

I believe now why the Tamils call it thalaiezhithu. That which is written on the forehead. Imprinted on the skull. Life is language, script, alphabet. The body receives.

In Sanskrit my name means sanctuary.

Witchcraft is a single movement of wind from being ready.

And I say ready, not completed. And you know why.

It's My Trumpet And I'll Blow It If I Want To

Deflation of the head comes in the form of my day to day reality.

Inflation?

* Getting this phone call: "Hey, I just heard your name on the radio!" "Huh?" "Jason Lo mangled your name over Hitz.FM five minutes ago." "Jason Lo?" (I didn't realise he's a DJ now). "Yes, he also said you're passionate, etc." "Haha.. Reading from a blurb someone else wrote, I expect". Cost: Minor name-mangling.
* Getting this comment from filmmaking superstar Amir Muhammad: "Sharanya, you are my hero!". Cost: Fiasco with a certain magazine.
* Being called "an internationally acclaimed writer" (say what?) in this month's Zero Degrees magazine. Cost: Irritation at not being able to scan up the article for you yet.
* Being in no less than three magazines this month, and doing interview+photoshoot for two more yesterday and today. Cost: One of the most unflattering photos of me I have ever seen in print, and we'll see what's coming for the forthcoming articles.

Being able to talk rooster like this on my blog? Priceless. :)

P.S. Amir, were you joking? :)

Tomorrow: Klue's Words & Tunes

Hiatus

And now, it is ochre.

I am exhausted!!! I. Never. Want. To. Be. My. Own. Publicist. Again. But all's well that ends well, and despite a massive downpour, a tree falling down and obstructing one of the highways, traffic and the deranged harrassment of someone who seemed suspiciously like a saboteur, there was a decent crowd. I enjoyed myself, did you?

I opened an email from a friend that ended with this quote: ""It ain't no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones" (Tom Waits). Which is what I do, in a way. What I feel like I do, although maybe you disagree.

Thank you to everyone who came. Thank you to everyone who wanted to come, but couldn't. Thank you to everyone who publicized. Thank you to everyone who helped.

Last night, I heard two things that I will not forget. The first: a person who is close to me but has always been unsupportive, if not downright critical, of my work told me they had tears in their eyes. Twice during the evening. The second: No Black Tie's Evelyn came over and hugged me after the show. She tapped her heart, shook her head, and walked away. "You are brutal," she said later. Brutal. I turned the word over in my mind later, and realised that that is the perfect word. That is exactly it. That is want I want my work to be: to break the spine of things, because everything broken that is coming back to life must hurt in order to heal.